Scientists are losing their heads over the idea of the first human head transplant. While most people think he’s crazy, Dr. Sergio Canavero is convinced he can make this feat possible. His plan is to take the head of a patient who is paralyzed, has a muscle-wasting disorder, etc. and put it on the body of someone who is brain-dead. The patient would have to be in a coma for about a month before waking up, to allow time for the body and head to adjust. The goal is for the patient to be able to live a better life in their new body and to continue living. He will not be doing this alone; with the help and support of Xiaoping Ren from Harbin Medical University in China and two teams of scientists, one from South Korea and one from Rice University…show more content… Although there was no control in some of his experiments, the ones without a control were shown to be the most successful. One example of a successful experiment was of a dog who was given a near-complete cervical spinal lesion (estimated to be more than 90% of its spinal cord severed). The dog was treated with PEG (polyethylene glycol) to help reconnect a severed spinal cord. PEG would be injected at the site of the lesion in hopes of the spinal cord reconnecting. The results for the uncontrolled experiment were: “The following day, the dog was paralysed, but after three days, the team reports minimal movement in all four limbs. After two weeks, the dog was able to drag its hind limbs by its torso and forelimbs, and in the third week, it was able to walk. The team claims that the dog began to grab objects, wag its tail and have a normal life” (Thomas). A similar experiment was performed on rats and mice. The spinal cords of sixteen mice were severed and half of them received PEG and the other half received saline (the control). Five out of the eight that received PEG regained some mobility, while the rest died (including all of the controlled mice). The problem with those experiments is that they were performed on animals, not humans. A human spinal cord will likely react differently than what a dog’s or a mouse’s…show more content… Robert White conducted the first successful head transplant on a rhesus monkey, which then only lived a few healthy days (Urken). If that was made successful back before all of the technology that is available now, then why not be able to give it a try now? If his procedure succeeds, he hopes to offer a new life to somebody who previously had no quality of life or was already dying. If the transplant were to fail, then the patient will at least die knowing that no effort to save them was spared. If it succeeds, then not only will medical history be made, but someone’s life is saved. If the patient survives the operation, then any type of rejection (psychological or physical) of the new body could be managed, according to Canavero (Osborne). When Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant in the 1960’s, it was thought to be unethical, which is how the public and scientists have reacted to the announcement of the head transplant. Heart transplants have become a common procedure, and Canavero hopes to make that procedure an option for people in the future, much like a heart transplant (Osborne). Just because Canavero wants to make this a possibility, does not mean that he does not know that there are risks involved. The patient, Valery Spiridonov, has given informed consent on the matter and is willing to risk it all, including his own life. Canavero has great hope for the future: “Canavero sees his forthcoming operation as a
